A Real-Life Pensieve: How writing a letter leads to personal discovery

Write a letter to anyone. Your parents, a friend, yourself! Writing your thoughts in an honest letter helps you make sense of your life. It causes you to reflect on your surroundings, on your recent decisions, on your state of happiness! And the recipient of your letter will certainly be thrilled to hear from you. Who doesn't like getting mail?

Not sure to whom you should write? Send me a letter and I'll send you one back!

Noah Jeffrey
PO Box 12058
Jackson, WY 83002

It doesn't matter who you are, or who I am. We will both benefit greatly from the exchange! By reading another person's thoughts, we glimpse the world from a different perspective. We can get this same experience from reading books and talking with people, but there are few occasions more intimate than a personal letter.

It is easy to be sincere when you're sitting comfortably at your writing desk, a cup of hot coffee fueling your thoughts. Your inhibitions and fears melt away while your honest thoughts of the world flow through your hand and onto the paper. It is an enlightening experience even for yourself - you may discover thoughts that have lingered in the back of your mind for months. Maybe years (if you haven't written a letter lately)!

Sit down to write with no agenda, no purpose other than to place your thoughts on paper, and you will make grand discoveries about yourself. It is like a real-life Pensieve (nerdy Harry Potter reference)!

"One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours them into the basin [onto the page], and examines them at one's leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form."

Now that you've examined my thoughts, it is time to examine your own! Go enjoy the wonderfully simple and absolutely enlightening experience of writing a letter. And if you feel like it, share your experience in the comments below! Your recommendation will surely encourage others to partake in this eye-opening exercise.

What did you discover about yourself while writing a letter?